Kids Who Care Coffee Shop

Just over a year ago, my husband and I left our home in Corning, NY to come to PE, South Africa for Lou's job.  Along with leaving family and friends, I also left my job as a teacher at Southside High School in Elmira, NY.  I have to admit that it didn't take me long to get used to not working, though occasionally the desire to stand before a classroom full of teenagers with an attitude sweeps over me. 

I hadn't stepped through the doors of a school building since June 2010 until last Thursday for PE Coffee Crawl's visit to the Kids Who Care Coffee Shop located at Theodor Herzl Primary School in Walmer.  This coffee shop, run by the 3rd grade class, was open to the public on August 11 from 9 am til 12:30 pm as a fundraiser for "The House Of Resurrection" for AIDS orphans.  One of the participating 3rd graders, Daniel Surmon, happens to be the son of PE Coffee Crawler Leanne Waller and grandson of June Nash.  When June presented the Crawlers with Daniel's request for us to attend this charity event, we all enthusiatically agreed.  What an opportunity...enjoying a cup of coffee while benefitting a good cause at the same time...a real win-win!

Well, we all met in the parking lot and entered the school through a gauntlet of eager 3rd graders bearing cafeteria trays.  Daniel led us to Table 6 which he and three friends, Lisa, Okuhle, and Gabbi, were responsible for decorating earlier that morning.  The decorations provided my Afrikaans lesson for the week as items on the table were labeled in both English and Afrikaans.  The table's orange and black motif was eye-catching and very well coordinated especially with the gold and black fish swimming in the centerpiece bowl.  The fish bowl was a great touch, kids!  And to all the groups who decorated other tables...a job well done...all your creativity and hard work paid off...the place looked tremendous!

                                                                             

The 3rd graders, under the guidance of their teachers, Penny Shaw and Victoria Waller, have adopted "The House Of Resurrection" for AIDS orphans as this school year's focus on community service.  They have been working hard all year to raise money for donations and gifts for this local charity.  It is nice to know that all the funds raised by these entrepreneurial youngsters stays in PE to benefit orphans of local AIDS victims. 

Not only did the children greet and serve the patrons of the "coffee shop," they also helped the school chef, Lizzy Mtyatyeni, to prepare the tea, coffee, and muffins!  Last week's crawlers, Beth Vieira, Gail Darne, Fran and Keith de Beer, June and Howard Nash, Leanne and Lodie Waller, Belinda Hunter, Gail Waller, Beryl and Stella Dawson, and my daughter, Liz, all kept Daniel and crew busy with 2 rounds of coffee and muffins for everyone.  Yes, we did break the No-Food-On-The-Crawl rule, but it was for a good cause and the muffins were awesome! 

 

Meet the Baristas: Lizzy and Victoria




Daniel and Mrs. Shaw

During our visit, I had the opportunity to speak with Daniel's teacher, Penny Shaw as well as the school principal, Elise Crouse.  They were both excited about the day's activities and were very proud of all the students. 

Amid all the youthful enthusiasm of the morning, the Crawlers still managed to get in some interesting table talk.  Topping the list was a discussion of exotic vacation spots including Hawaii, Mauritius, and Madagascar (where I hear all the inhabitants are quite animated.......).  The next topic was obnoxiously large shoe sizes of female celebrities.  Try saying that 5 times fast!  Which led somehow to a discussion of lemurs...how that happened I'll never know but Liz later told me that lemurs are only indigenous to Madagascar.  The conversation then transitioned smoothly into a stovetop versus electric kettle debate; Liz proudly defending the classic stovetop model and Gail Darne responding with a cheeky, "Yeah, we did that in Africa...30 years ago!"  Any thoughts on that one, readers? 

On to Keith's useless fact of the week:  The first air freshener for bathrooms was a pomegranate stuffed with whole cloves.  Talk about spicing things up in the loo!!! 

After a few hours of "coffee for a cause," the Crawl came to an abrupt end with the ringing of the school bell.  Reverting back to our school days, like Pavlov's dogs, all the Crawlers packed up and filed out of the school. 

This Week's Crawlers: Gaile D, Liz, Fran, Keith, June, Howard, Lisa, Daniel, Okuhle, Leanne, Gail W, Beryl, Stella, Beth (Not Pictured: Belinda and Lodie)

* Kudos to Penny Shaw, Victoria Waller, and their 3rd grade class for sponsoring the Kids Who Care Coffee Shop.  Thank you for your efforts! 
* A special thank you to Daniel for inviting the Crawlers...you got my vote for the best waiter. 
* Thank you to Lizzy M. for those wonderful muffins!
* Thank you to all teachers everywhere for inspiring young people to make a difference!

Until tomorrow,

Ellen

P.S. Thank you for being patient with the picture confusion for the time being.  With my improved computer skills and Firefly's guidance, the blog is under construction!